Patriotic pride or abject horror? A European summit hasn’t been so divisive in
Britain since Fontainebleau in 1984 when Mrs Thatcher threw down her handbag
and declared: “I want my money back.”

The yellow side of the Coalition is scandalised: Britain faces being reduced to a “pygmy” nation, said Nick Clegg.

On the other hand, David Cameron has been greeted by eurosceptic Britain as Henry V returning from Agincourt.

But whichever side of the dichotomy you’re on, it ain’t Cameron you should be praising or blaming, but Angela Merkel and Nicholas Sarkozy. The truth is, Cameron hasn’t stood-up for Britain or quit the eurozone debate: Britain has been kicked out.

Ever since Merkel made European treaty change her goal, it was obvious that she would have a job getting her way. It’s been tough enough getting the 17 eurozone countries to agree to anything, even if you’re their paymaster.

The “outs” represent an extra hurdle over which Germany has no real stick. Added to which, Britain, backed by an even more annoying America, has grated with nagging calls of “hurry up and sort out the crisis.”

Amid all the posturing, the Financial Transaction Tax has proved a remarkably dextrous tool. It’s unified a grumpy electorate by promising to tax bankers and give to the needy - a range of beneficiaries from Oxfam to infrastructure projects have laid claim to the proceeds.

It’s also proved a reliable answer to the constant question of “where’s the money going to come from?”

Deciding to be bold, Cameron loudly declared he would put a stop to the threat to the City - even if it meant torpedoing Mer-kozy’s vital Brussels summit. But the German and French leaders didn’t need to wait that long: they leapt at the chance last Wednesday.

Their open letter to Herman Van Rompuy setting out their lofty aims for the summit: beef up the European Stability Mechanism; use the IMF for extra liquidity and fiscal unification. But there, bold as brass, was a commitment to a “creation of a financial transaction tax.”

Merkel and Sarkozy wrote that they wanted the measures to be “enshrined in the European Treaties” but quickly added that they’d be just as happy to go ahead with agreement from the 17.

That letter was the writing on the wall for Cameron: he either had to agree to an FTT (unthinkable) or use Britain’s veto.

From the other side of the Channel, Cameron can keep his precious City if he wants to, just as Mrs Thatcher won her rebate. The core of Europe is going on to build an economic pact without him.